Christian Niccum2006 U.S. OlympianFour-Time Jr. World ChampionSix-Time World Cup Medalist

What twelve-year old has the foresight,
commitment and courage to move across the country to chase a dream that's
fifteen years away?...meet Christian
Niccum.

In the summer of 1990 Christian was scouted at a USA Luge youth screening
camp held near his home in Seattle, Washington. It didn't take long
for the US Luge Association coaches to recognize his athletic potential
and in short order Christian was on his way to Lake Placid, NY to get on
the ice. Little did he know at the time that Lake Placid would become
a second home for the next fifteen years. Christian quickly moved
his way up the ranks of young sliders, not only in the US, but around the
world. He went on to win four consecutive World Jr. Champion titles
en route to becoming one of the USA's most decorated young sliders.
Transitioning to the senior circuit, Christian continued to make his way to the
podium, winning six international World Cup medals. In 1998, he narrowly
missed an Olympic team birth and stood by to watch his teammates win the
first ever US Olympic luge medals. By then, having spent the better
part of his life living on the road on the luge circuit, Christian took
two seasons off from competitive sliding and took up coaching
while he refocused on his on future and goals. The medal winning performance
of his former teammates in Salt Lake City in 2002 inspired Christian to come back
to competitive sliding and the time spent coaching provided him a sharpened
eye with which to refine his own skills. In 2006, he made his Olympic
debut and has since continued to climb the sliding ranks. Now with teammate Dan
Joye, they are the number one ranked team in the US.

I

"As a former World Champion, I know what it feels like
to win - there's nothing else like it, and it's that feeling you get inside,
that feeling of hard work paying off, that's the biggest motivation I've
ever known. My time off from competition, while I was coaching, I
feel has made me a better technical slider but more importantly, it reaffirmed
for me that this is what I want to be doing with my life - competing.
I left home a long time ago to become an Olympic champion. I'm now more
committed to accomplishing that than ever. "